I Basic Information on Cambodia (Pdf/100Kb)
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BASIC INFORMATION OF CAMBODIA I BASIC INFORMATION ON CAMBODIA I-1 Geography and Climate mandate was held on 27th July 2008 in which the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) won landslide victory and currently occupied 90seats, Geography followed by Sam Rainsy Party (SRP), Human Right Party, FUNCINPEC Cambodia is situated on the southwestern part of the Indochina peninsula. and Norodom Ranaridh Party which won 26 seats, 3 seats, 2 seats and It shares a 2,615 km boarder with Vietnam (1,270 km), Thailand (805 km), 2 seats respectively. The election of National Assembly for 5th mandate and Laos (540 km). Its total area is 181,035 square kilometers, which is will be held on July 28, 2013. about half the area of Japan. Cambodia’s Senate election is held once in six years. The Election for the Senate members of 3rd legislature was held on 29th January 2012. According Climate to the of [ cial results released by the National Election Committee, the CPP Cambodia has a tropical monsoon climate with two seasons: a wet season gained 46 seats and SRP gained 11 seats. Remaining 4seats were appointed from May to October and a dry season from November to May. The annual by the King and the National Assembly (each 2 seats). average temperature is about 27.7 degrees centigrade, and the average Above all, the CPP has formed the Royal Government with FUNCINPEC temperature exceeds 30 degrees centigrade in the hottest months, April Party and Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo HUN SEN has been and May. elected as the Prime Minister OF the Kingdom of Cambodia. I-2 Political System I-3 Legal System Cambodia is a constitutional monarchy. The present King, His Majesty Legal hierarchy Norodom Sihamoni, acceded to the throne on 29 October 2004. In the current legal system in Cambodia, the hierarchy of laws and The Constitution stipulates that Cambodia adopts a policy of liberal regulations is understood as shown in Table I-3-1. democracy and pluralism, and that the Cambodian people are masters of the country. The Constitution also sets out that the power of the Legislative, Legislation process Executive and Judicial branches shall be separated. (Article 51) The process of legislation by a member of the National Assembly is The country has a bicameral legislature, which consists of the National shown in the \ ow chart in Figure I-3-1. After the adoption by the National Assembly and the Senate. The election of National Assembly for 4th Table I-3-1 Legal Hierarchy in Cambodia 1) The Constitution: The Supreme Law of the Kingdom of Cambodia 2) Treaties and Convention: According to Article 26 of the Constitution, the King shall sign and ratify international treaties, both multilateral and bilateral, and conventions, following the approval of the National Assembly and Senate. After such rati[ cation, international treaties and conven- tions shall become laws and may be used as the basis for judicial decisions. 3) Laws (Chhbab): Laws adopted by the National Assembly 4) Royal Kram (Preah Reach Kram) and Royal Decree (Preah Reach Kret): To be issued under the name of the King for executing his con- stitutional powers 5) Sub-Decree (Anu-Kret): To be signed by the Prime Minister after adoption by the Cabinet Meeting. In case the sub-decree has not been adopted by the Cabinet Meeting, countersignature by the Minister(s) in charge shall be required. The Prime Minister can use this in exercising his own regulatory powers. 6) Ministerial Order (Prakas): To be issued by members of the government in exercising their own regulatory powers. 7) Decision (Sechkdei Samrech) : Individual decision of the Prime Minister and Decision (Prakas-Deika) of a Minister or a Governor, which is used in exercising his own regulatory powers. 8) Circular (Sarachor): In general, to be issued by the Prime Minister as head of government, and by a minister as an of [ cial of the ministry either to explain or clarify certain legal regulatory measures or to provide instructions 9) Provincial Deka (Arrete): To be used by a provincial governor within the geographical limits of his province Submission of draft law to Decision by the Vote on the Law drafting Examination inter-ministerial Cabinet adoption meeting Reviewing Commission National Assembly Vote on the Submission of Submission of draft law Examination law to the King rati [ cation to the Senate for signature Senate Figure I-3-1 Process of Legislation by Member of National Assembly I-1 Assembly, the Senate reviews the law, followed by the Royal Kram of the Table I-5-1 Projected Population in 2012: Top Ten Provinces and King to promulgate the Law. National Total The preliminary review will be undertaken by the Private Sector Working Rank Province Projected Population in 2012 % to Total Population Group, the Judicial Council and the Economic, Social and Cultural Council 1 Kampong Cham 1,745,184 11.8 before the draft law is sent to Cabinet for examination. 2 Phnom Penh 1,637,473 11.1 3 Kandal 1,383,298 9.4 I-4 International Relations 4 Battambang 1,148,444 7.8 5 Siem Reap 1,023,990 6.9 Foreign Policies 6 Prey Veng 980,811 6.7 7 Takeo 879,328 6.0 The Constitution declares a policy of permanent neutrality and non-alignment 8 Kampong Speu 775,704 5.3 for Cambodia. The Kingdom of Cambodia follows a policy of peaceful 9 Banteay Meanchey 760,770 5.2 co-existence with its neighbors and with all other countries throughout 10 Kampong Thom 673,247 4.6 the world, shall not invade any country, or interfere in any other country’s Cambodia Total 14,741,414 100.0 internal affairs, directly or indirectly, and shall solve all problems peacefully with due respect for mutual interests. The Kingdom of Cambodia shall not Percentage of national population by age and sex group in 2011, projected joint in any military alliance or military pact that is incompatible with its in 2008 Census, was as follows. policy of neutrality (Article 53). - Children (0-14 age): 31.4%, - Economically productive age group (15-64): 64.3 % Membership in Major International Organizations - The elderly population (65+): 4.3%. 1 Cambodia joined the UN in 1955. After the prolonged civil war was (Source: General Population Census 2008 , NIS) ended in the early 1990’s, the pace at which Cambodia joined various international economic organizations picked up. Table I-4-1 shows some Anticipated Population Pyramid of Cambodia 2011 of the Cambodia’s membership in international organizations to which (Unit: thousand persons) 0 200 400 600 800 1,000 Cambodia belongs. In addition, Cambodia is also a member of FAO, IMF, 75+ Interpol, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, WHO, etc. 70 Ͳ74 65 Ͳ69 60 Ͳ64 55 Ͳ59 Table I-4-1 Membership of Major International Organizations 50 Ͳ54 45 Ͳ49 Member Organization 40 Ͳ44 Since Male 35 Ͳ39 Female Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations 1950 30 Ͳ34 International Telecommunication Union (ITU) 1952 25 Ͳ29 United Nations (UN) 1955 20 Ͳ24 International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) 1956 15 Ͳ19 International Civil Aviation Organization 1956 10 Ͳ14 International Maritime Organization (IMO) 1961 5Ͳ9 Asian Development Bank (ADB) 1966 0Ͳ4 Universal Postal Union (UPU) 1969 1,000 800 600 400 200 0 International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) 1970 International Development Association (IDA) 1970 Source: General Population Census 2008, NIS International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) 1992 Figure I-5-1 Anticipated Population Pyramid of Cambodia 2011 World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) 1995 International Finance Corporation (IFC) 1997 Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) 1999 Ethnic groups Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) 1999 The majority are Khmer (90 %). Small ethnic groups include Cham, International Labour Organization (ILO) 1999* Vietnamese and Chinese. World Customs Organization (WCO) 2001 World Trade Organization (WTO) 2004 Religion Asian Productivity Organization (APO) 2004 International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) 2005 Buddhism is established as a national religion by the Constitution (Article Asia-Paci [ c Telecommunity 2007 43, The Constitution) and 90 % of the population is Buddhist. Other International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) 2009 religions practiced in Cambodia include Islam, Christianity and others. Note: * Cambodia rati [ ed six fundamental conventions of the ILO in 1999. Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Language and literacy The of [ cial language is Khmer. The adult literacy rates in 2008 were 77.6 % in total, 85.1 % for males, and 70.9 %for females. (Source: General I-5 Social Climate Population Census 2008, NIS) Population Education system According to the 2008 Population Census, Cambodia’s population was The educational system in Cambodia consists of primary school (grade 1 13.4 million with annual growth rate of 1.54%. Phnom Penh, the capital to 6), junior high school (grades 7 to 9), senior high school (grades 10 to and the largest city, has a population of 1.3 million. Percentage of urban 12) and university and other institutions of higher education. Compulsory population is 19.5% and density of population per square kilo meters is 75. education is until grade 9. “Report of Population Projection of the 2008 Population Census” projects The situation of schools at various grades in 2011-2012 is shown in the population of major provinces in 2012 as shown in Table I-5-1. Table-I-5-2. Note 1: General Population Census of Cambodia 2008: National Report on Final Census Results, which was released in September 2009. I-2 BASIC